Toyon, or “Christmas-berry,” one of the more distinctive shrubs of Southern California’s native chaparral plant community, is now flaunting clusters of red berries. Here in coastal San Diego, toyon ...

Knott’s Merry Farm returns this holiday season with a new Victorian-inspired Christmas tree serving as the centerpiece of a winter wonderland filled with festive shows, live music and a nightly ...

A ginkgo tree at the California state Capitol was fenced off this month because its putrid fruit was both a slip and a sniff hazard. Incidentally, the berries — technically seeds with a casing — do ...

Dear Reader: First things first. Berries (actually “drupes”) on vitex plants (lilac chaste trees) are the reproductive results of flowers having been there. They are not buds that suggest that the ...

Q: I planted a 6-foot chaste tree in the spring in my garden area. The tree had some blooms on it at the time. It has prospered, sending off new branches and leaves. It is loaded with berries, but the ...

Dear Neil: I planted a 6-foot chaste tree in the spring in my garden area. The tree had some blooms on it at the time. It has prospered, sending off new branches and leaves. It is loaded with berries, ...

Q: Can you tell me if these are vitex (see reader's photo)? When should they be trimmed? They grow fast! A: Yes, the plants in question are vitex, commonly called chaste trees. They are usually grown ...

Chaste tree (Vitex angus-cestus), also called chasteberry, with its striking lavender-blue flowers which appear on spikes in the fall, is the perfect heat-loving, drought-tolerant addition to an open ...